Campout

Today I took my oldest son and my other son and dropped them off at a campout.  I didn't stay - I don't camp. 

As in, ever.  As in, not ever, no way, no how.

I like my bed and I like my pillow, and I like my very clean bathroom.

Because I wasn't staying, my boys couldn't sleep over.  So they did the hikes and such.  It was Gabe's troop and Nik is a den chief - he helps out.  All was good.  I had to go back and pick them up at 8.  It was 25 miles to get to the campground - about 45 minutes.  I packed up the other kids and we drove out there.  When we got to the campground, we parked and walked up to the site.

Man, I haven't been out at a camping site in YEARS.  It's dark out there, and being in the total dark lends a different feel to everything.  The stars were more visible, and it was interesting to me to look around.  Often, when I'm outside at night, it's for a reason.  I'm rushing from one place to another, and I don't take the time to notice.  Smoke smells differently when you are outside - more natural, if that makes sense.  It's fall and wood fire's a scent that I associate with fall.

My boys were waiting for me, and Nikolas grabbed the keys and they ran to the van.  They were cold and tired and ready to go home, but I knew that, somewhere, the ingredients for s'mores were located and I was determined to find them.

Graham crackers and hershey bars located, I sent my middle daughters to the fire to toast the marshmallows.  S'mores are my very favorite dessert EVER.  In fact, I've been known to toast a marshmallow over the gas burner on the stove, just to indulge my cravings. 

(Oooh, this just reminded me of another great camping dessert - banana boats.  Take a banana and lay it down so it looks like a boat.  Peel one quarter of the peel part way down, but don't remove.  Slice partway through the banana, and fill the opening with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips.  Replace the peel, wrap the entire thing in foil and bake in the coals for about 10 minutes.  OMG.  Hot banana, melted chocolate and marshmallow.  Delish.)

So, we've established that I don't like to camp but I love to eat.  How about you?  Do you like to camp (shudder)?  Do you take your kids, if you have them? Do you like s'mores?  What's your favorite camping type food?

Comments

[Tammy]

Love to camp! A camping trip for me is total relaxation, thanks totally to my husband. We used to tent camp and even that was nice at the time. We had air mattresses we'd put under the sleeping bags to make it more comfy.
When we lived in Arizona my husband was on call 24/7 with his job so the only way to get away was a camping trip to the river.
Now that we're in Texas with fire ants, tent camping is out of the question. But, my mother in law owns a very nice RV and we take it to the beach when we can and it's a great getaway.
The reason a camping trip is so relaxing for me is because those are the times my husband takes over "domestic" chores and he does the packing, the cooking, the cleanup and then heads off fishing at night and leaves me to relax with my book. I'm not a fisherman so this bodes well with me. Playing in the water, walking barefoot in the sand, shopping in the quaint stores near the beach, sea food at a local restaurant for dinner...what's not to like??? That's how I camp now, but it hasn't always been like this! We used to "rough" it and at the time that was even great. Not sure I'd go back to that now....

[margalit]

I used to love to camp. I was a camping fiend in my earlier years. You see, I grew up in a totally non-camping family. My mother's great quote is "My type of camping is the Holiday Inn" and she was serious. I've done winter camping in New Hampshire and been snowed in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. I lived in a Tipi one summer. I own a 3 season down bag and the missing season is summer. I have tents and foam pads and tons of camping gear including stoves.

But do I camp now? HELL NO. I'm old and creaky and I want a bad and walls and I hate to be wet and cold. Now when I feel like communing with nature I got way up in Maine to my cousin's island, where there are bathrooms and 3 cabins with a stove and propane refrigerators (2). We hang out and discuss the next meal we're going to make and eat. Since we grow lot of wild blueberries on the island, much of what we eat is blueberry pie. So that's my favorite camping food besides s'mores.

[Kelli]

No camping for me. My hubby and kids have started dragging me once a year to a campout at the zoo for members. It is fun you get to walk around the zoo until midnight. They have a campfire with smores! I still don't like it but at least there is a bathroom (I make hubby get there so we get the site close to the bathrooms). They have buffett dinner for everyone. But that is as close to camping as you are going to get me, because I never sleep good, I dont care what kind of mattress hubby thinks is going to help it doesnt.

[Katie]

It's such a shame your boys couldn't stay over. In the UK Scouts and Guides run camps and holidays where the kids go without parents, they have a great time, and it gives parents a break. I run a Rainbow Unit (equivalent of your Daisy Scouts, 5-7 year old girls) and I try to take them away indoors for at least 1 night a year, they love it!
I was a Brownie and a Guide and loved camping, it gets a bit harder now I have to organise the camps!
I am a sucker for a well toasted marshmallow, though I like them nearly as much when they've not been toasted!

[kalisah]

Yuk. Hate camping. I don't stay anywhere that doesn't provide room service. Those banana things sound pretty tasty though.

[Elizabeth]

I'm with Margalit. I used to camp, used to be a Girl Scout leader and take 20 girls out (always in a lodge, no tents though). Now that they are done and my son is 5, I have realized there is NO way that I will be camping with him. Also, not likely I'll be a den mother or whatever. I just burned out on it. I not only want a bed and flush toilets, I want to go to sleep at 10:00 and sleep in until 7:00. Neither of these things happens with all those kids.

[Heather]

ICK - My idea of camping is a hotel without cable.

I have been ONCE, just so I could say "I DID try it I don't LIKE iiiitttt." ~insert childish whine~

Yeah ~ we won't be doing THAT again.

[Emily]

I grew up in a non-camping family, too. Once a summer during my teen years I'd go to a girl's camp organized by church leaders. Ha! More like Club Med, we had all our meals prepared for us, slept in cabins, had flush toilets and hot showers if you got up early enough in the morning.

We did go on overnight hikes a couple of times, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Backpacking, to me, was really fun. But those days are over, since I married a man who can't carry a pack and has no desire to spend time in the great outdoors.

Pity, really. There's nothing like a campfire-cooked meal, in my humble opinion.

[dinky]

At one point I was a card-carying girlscout aaand boyscout. I was the gs troop leaders pet and then later a boy scout counselor. But that was over a decade ago, and I admit that I am now an old lady about camping.

I do still own the Worlds Greatest Sleeping Bag, which at some points has been more comfortable than my own bed.

I can handle one night, on an air mattress, with full "camping kitchen" and flushable toilets. I don't do rain. I don't do freezing (below 60 degrees) weather either.

Any more than that and I start complaining that I've got Nature on my hands.

[crunchy carpets]

I love camping and took the kids for the first time this summer...it was baking hot and that made it different from my old camping days where we froze to death.

Caity fell in the fire, but was ok and Adam made loads of friends and the dirt was unbelieveable...

but we had a great time.
The kids loved eating hot dogs and pasta and pancakes just like at home but smokier.

[LeeAnn]

My idea of camping is to stay at a 4 star hotel instead of a 5 star hotel....I need an indoor bathroom! A bed off the floor is helpful too. Hate 'smores...they are just too sweet for me. I do love sitting around a campfire.

[cmhl]

LOVE to camp, believe it or not!!

[rachel]

I loved to camp as a kid, and my husband loved to camp pre-kids too. We've never done it with the kids.

Oh I love s'mores. And really anything cooked over a campfire.

[ek]

LOVE to camp - winter, spring and autumn. Summer camping in the states is weird though - people with big motor homes and air cons blasting away, or people with FANS. My idea of camping is hiking deep in, hauling everything there and back. The further away from people and the civilized world the better ;)

I have never had a s'more but once, though!
The banana thing sounds delicious...

[Amah]

When I was younger (20's) we used to camp a little. We were more the picnic types. As I got older and people that I knew started buying camp trailers - I camped more. Only once after 25 did I do the "sleep on the ground in a tent" type camping and swore that I'd never do it again. I don't need all the stuff for smores - I just like toasted marshmellows. My daughter can toast a marshmellow 3 or 4 times just eating the outside coating and toasting it again. We laughed a bunch at her. My favorite food? Beans cooked over the campfire in a coffee can with all the "stuff in them". I don't think the same "recipe" was used twice in all the years we did it. Now, we have a RV and camp that way. Or the "Holiday Inn" camping. I just don't do the bugs well anymore and my sweet husband doesn't do them at all. We spent over 3 months last year touring the country in our RV and we saw such wonderful sights!! All in campgrounds and not much hiking (we are much to old and feeble for that now). A couple of months ago we took our kidlets to GA and stayed in a campground while we "toured" the woods and surrounding areas for a few days and we have a trip to the Keys planned. No tents tho'. Sorry.

[Stephanie C.]

I grew up in a camping family; that was our annual summer vacation. In a tent, campfire cooking, etc. Loved it then. As the adult, I don't like it at all. Too much work. But I'll go once a year and 3 nights is my max. Dh thinks it's only camping if you're in a tent and sleep in your sleeping bag on the ground.
S'mores are the best!!

[Paige]

We camp. Maybe overnight once a year. Unless we are going with my parents, and then they take over the organizing. it takes like 2 full days to pack everyone for an overnight camping trip--too much work! And then they are filty after the first 10 minutes, also not my cup of tea, but the little ones, they just love that playing in dirt, sleeping in a tent thing, so we still do it (sparingly).

[theotherbear]

Used to love camping as a kid. As an adult not so keen. In fact have not been for a good 10 years. Umm... what is a s'more?

[Terri]

I love camping. I didn't grown up in a camping family but loved to go whenever I had a chance with friends or youth groups, whoever I could go with! Even since we had our kids, they had all gone on their first week long camp out by 6 months and loved it, I have proof in the pictures! There huge smiles make me love it more dirt and all! And yes we camp out in tents and sleepingbags out in the middle of nowhere without a bathroom in site.

[Beth]

I grew up in a family that did not camp. My mother's idea of camping was going to a hotel without room service. I went camping for the first time when I was 16 and have loved it ever since. Camping trips are the most relaxing "vacations" I believe I've been on. My favorite camp ground closed this past year to build condos ... talk about a major disappointment! Me and my son have been checking out other ones to find our new favorite ... my daughter is a lot like my mother, so after two camping trips she decided she would call it quits (unless it is with a friends family that has a RV). My favorite camp food ... hmm, I do the smores thing, but I don't eat them, I remember the banana boat's but haven't had them in a long time ... it has to be getting up in the morning and making biscuits and sausage gravy ... yum...

[Nina]

I've never been camping. Sleeping in a tent, on the ground doesn't sound like fun to me. And I kind of like having a toilet to use, and running water to brush my teeth and shower. I live in the country, I'm close enough to nature when I'm inside.
Also, I don't like s'mores, or any other kind of camp-out food.

[Jess]

The one and only time I ever truly camped SUCKED. I was a sophmore in high school. My Mom, Aunt and best friend went camping at a local resort. We lasted one night. It rained and was colder than hell. We did not want to admit defeat so we stayed in hotel for the next few nights. A pool, resturant, and hottub. Yes that is my idea of roughing it. LOL

[Izzy]

lol...I'm with you. No camping for me! Florida is rife with nasty bugs and snakes and other icky things and it's flat so there's nothing fun to do like hiking. I'll just eat my s'mores at home, thank you :)

[Tracy]

Love camping, adore banana boats. But have you tried them with butterscotch chips? or graham cracker crumbled up? It's absolutely incredible.

We have fun making designs of the boats too - aluminum foil ducks, boats, mermaids, whatever... because how else are we going to find *our* masterpieces?